Bitten by the In Crowd

Chapter 2:

I follow Stella and Danny down to the lunch room and when we get there I see Camille and Blake already sitting at the table in the corner they said they would be at. They're sharing a plate of fries and seem to be sitting practically on top of each other, just like they were this morning. The two of them together just emanate what I imagine true love is like. They seem perfect for each other.  When she sees me, Camille squeals excitedly. "Nina, come sit next to me!" She says and I do, sliding onto the hard wooden bench beside her. Danny sits beside Blake and Stella sits next to Danny, still not uttering a word to me. 

"Hey, Cam." Stella says nicely with a genuine smile. Okay, so she's not rude to everyone, so what does she possibly have against me? A minute later, Melody comes up and sits on my other side, followed by a younger looking boy with thick black hair -- the one she was sitting with this morning. 

"Hey, Nina." Melody grins. "This is my...boyfriend, Dominic."I don't know why she paused in the middle of her sentence but I choose to ignore it. 

"Hi." Dominic mutters softly. He intertwines his fingers with Melody's and they start talking to each other in hushed voices that I can't make out. I can't help but notice that Melody appears to have lost a couple of flowers from her hair since I last saw her. I turn to look at the others and a girl with fiery red hair falls into the seat next to Stella, sighing loudly. 

"Are you Nina?" She asks me with a sly grin. I nod my head a little and she flips her hair. "I'm Mira." She introduces herself before turning and jumping into a conversation with Stella and Danny. Mira seems oddly different from the rest of them, yet somehow exactly the same.  

Camille and Blake must notice how lost I look because they start talking to me again. "I know it's a lot to take in all at once, but you'll get used to everyone eventually." Camille winks. I'm still getting a strange vibe from all of them, almost like they're mocking me or something. But as far as being the new girl goes, I'll take any friends I can get. 

"Andrew!" Blake calls out and another light-brown haired boy turns around. His hand is laced with that of a platinum blonde haired girl with ice blue eyes. They join the table as well and Melody introduces the blonde one as Jenna. I can't get over how unusually close all these couples are. The only one not falling over someone else is Mira. Maybe she's not dating anyone, which is surprising because she's beautiful. Actually, all of them are. For some strange reason all of these girls are startlingly gorgeous -- more than anyone else in this school as far as I've seen.

Camille starts rambling on about things to do in town,and I sort of tune her out to observe the rest of the group, but everyone falls a little bit quieter and points their gaze toward the table when the last boy sits down on the other end of the table. His eyes are wide and eerily fixated on me, his jaw slightly ajar. He looks shocked, but I don't know why. I shift uncomfortably in my seat and I find that everyone else is now looking at me too. My stomach wells with something unfamiliar that I've never felt before, and the breath hitches in my throat as the boy looks at me. It's almost as if my soul is frozen in time and I can't move. "I'm James." He mutters in a voice so deep that I swear the ground beneath me is shaking. The rest of the table's eyes dart back and forth fervently between 'James' and I as if waiting impatiently to see what happens. 

"Nina." I can only make out a whisper. A small smile creeps onto his face and it fills me with a sudden, overwhelming warmth. Suddenly, all I can focus on are his crystal clear eyes. Their deafening cerulean envelops me in a hypnotic cloud of something I can't identify, but it feels fantastic. Time has frozen and my feet feel like they're walking on air, but I don't fear falling. Actually, in this moment, I fear nothing at all. 

The rest of the lunch period goes by and James and I continue to look at each other, locked in to one another's gaze. The others break off in to a few casual, soft conversations but the period is for the most part uneventful.